Page 15 of What Have You Done?

‘Of course,’ Joe says. ‘I would have come in earlier, but my foreman wouldn’t let me go till the end of my shift.’ He adds, ‘He can be a bit of a jerk.’

Stone nods. ‘Do you mind if we tape this interview?’

‘No, not at all,’ he says affably.

‘Your name?’ the detective asks, his voice neutral.

‘Joe Prior.’

‘Address?’

‘One nineteen Division Street, Fairhill. Apartment two fourteen.’

‘And what do you do for a living, Joe?’

‘Construction, mostly.’

Stone nods. ‘Who do you work for?’

‘At the moment, Byford Construction. But I move around. Go where the work is. I do general construction – never learned a trade.’

‘You quite often go to the Home Depot here in Fairhill,’ Stone says.

‘Doesn’t everybody?’ Joe replies, and smiles.

‘You know who Diana Brewer is,’ the detective says. ‘You know why we want to talk to you.’

‘Yeah. Shit. Shame about what happened to her. Pretty girl.’

‘You showed a particular interest in her.’

‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Joe says. ‘I was just being friendly.’

‘Friendly,’ the detective repeats. ‘That’s not the way we heard it.’

Joe frowns. ‘What do you mean?’

‘We heard you harassed her. Bothered her at work. Flirted with her. She didn’t want your attention.’ Joe shrugs, lets this roll off his shoulders. ‘Did you ever see Diana outside of the Home Depot?’

Joe shakes his head. ‘No.’

‘Ever try to contact her? Send her messages?’

‘No.’ He’s had enough of this. He leans forward. ‘You’re barking up the wrong tree. You’re looking for a murderer, and you want it to be me. Sorry to disappoint you. I didn’t do it.’

‘Where were you last night?’ Stone asks, also leaning forward, placing his elbows on the table.

‘I was at home.’

‘Can anyone confirm that?’

‘Yes, actually,’ Joe says. ‘I had a buddy over after work. We had a few too many beers and he crashed on my couch. Didn’t leave till this morning.’

‘His name?’

‘Rodney Donnelly, goes by Roddy.’ He adds, ‘If you want to talk to him, I have his number right here.’ He shows it to Stone in the contacts on his phone. The detective writes it down. ‘Is that all?’ Joe says.

‘Just one more question. What do you drive?’

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